August restaurant closures are not that big a deal in tourist heavy places like Rome, Venice, Florence. August 15th everything is closed. But otherwise, you can still eat well in these cities. I almost starved spending the month of August in Modena a few years ago. Could hardly even find a grocery store. You can do OK in the Big Three.

Thanks, this is great! Having them mapped out is very helpful. There are even a couple close to our apartment - we'll be staying equidistant between Romeo and Il Sorpasso in Prati. Which two caused you to worry?

I'm sure they will love our daughter - she's very outgoing and has bright blue eyes that always draw lots of attention. She has recently decided that her favourite food is pizza, second favourite is noodles so I think we'll do fine.

Is it typically acceptable to make a reservation by email? Two weeks in advance, or more/less? Is it considered rude to send an email in English?

Thanks, this is great! Having them mapped out is very helpful. There are even a couple close to our apartment - we'll be staying equidistant between Romeo and Il Sorpasso in Prati. Which two caused you to worry?

I'm sure they will love our daughter - she's very outgoing and has bright blue eyes that always draw lots of attention. She has recently decided that her favourite food is pizza, second favourite is noodles so I think we'll do fine.

Is it typically acceptable to make a reservation by email? Two weeks in advance, or more/less? Is it considered rude to send an email in English?

Some restaurants only accept reservations by email. If their website allows it, then it's fine, preferable actually. Two weeks, or even less is fine. It is not rude to send an email in english. Y

ou would get points, however, for learning how to throw in a few words in Italian to show you made some effort. You can go to google translate and put together a sentence such as, "Scusi, non parlo italiano." Then say, "Can you help me in english? I would like to make a reservation." Or something like that. Every reasonable size restaurant in Rome has at least some english speaking staff, especially when it comes to reservations.

I've been working on the Italian a little bit, but I seem to be much more able to read and understand it than I can write or speak it. The idea of inflected nouns and adjectives scares me! Parlo? Parla? Parli? This is one area where the English language managed to get right.